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By: Rasori
For GameCube
(Excuse the poor art skills, but all FAQs need one of these!)
\\end Bad Artwork
--------------------
While this game is little different from the PS2 version which currently is
posted in the GCN section, I thought it deserved its own FAQ. I will include
tips for tweaking your car for top performance early on, and for those of
you who are a bit lazier, I will include the stats that I use on my cars
(these stats, at least early on, will be only for cars with all of the
performance upgrades, meaning the Cup series won't be up for a little
while).
\\end Introduction
--------------------
Legal Yada-yada
--------------------
You know the drill. This stuff in this here FAQ is copyright (c) me in July
of 2004 (except for later updates, which are copyright (c) me, at that
time). Nothing in this FAQ may be reproduced without my permission (meaning,
no re-posting on other sites without asking, basically). I'll be a nice guy-
you can print these out and photocopy 'em or scan 'em or whatever for
personal uses (no, using it as toilet paper does NOT qualify as personal
uses). Just don't outright copy it and repost it and then say you did it
yourself. You can use this on other sites with my written (typed)
permission, just contact me at [email protected]
This FAQ is currently on the following sites (yes, I will acknowledge you if
you add it to yours (with my permission)):
http://www.gamefaqs.com
\\end Legal Yada-yada
---------------------
Quick Overview of Legal Yada-yada
---------------------
E-mail me at [email protected] if you want to use this on your site.
\\end Quick Overview
---------------------
Table of Contents
---------------------
Note that the quick find feature will work here- whatever's in parenthesis
(basically, these maccaroni thingies) next to the section you want is the
search term. Do ctrl+F and type in the letters/numbers, and it'll zoom you
to the top of the section. Yay for the find feature!
Section Name QF #
0..... Introduction/Legal/TOC ..... CTIIF
1......... Update Information ........ UPINF
2............ Controls ............... CNTRL
3........... Game Overview ........... GMOVR
4.......... #1 Rule in D2D ........... NMBR1
5.......... Garage Overview .......... GRGOV
a... Weight .................. GRGA
b... Shocks .................. GRGB
c... Springs ................. GRGC
d..... Tires ................. GRGD
e..... Camber ................ GRGE
f..... Gears ................. GRGF
g..... Misc. ................. GRGG
6.......... Tweakin' Tips ............ TWKTP
7......... Just a Side Note .......... JASNT
8-???...... In the Works ............. ?????
Yay! That was fun, wasn't it?
\\end TOC
-----------------------
Section 1 : UPINF : Update Information
-----------------------
July 5th, 2004: Started the FAQ after realizing there was only a PS2 FAQ at
the time. Made it up to Section 7. Plan to get Gear Ratios for each track
with all upgrades (up to the Craftsman Truck series, at least) within a
couple of weeks.
\\end Section 1: Update Information
-----------------------
Section 2 : CNTRL : Controls
-----------------------
Default Controls:
Menu Controls:
Control Stick or + Pad: Navigate through choices.
A Button: Accept choice.
B Button: Previous Screen.
Game Controls:
Control Stick or + Pad: Steering.
R Button: Accelerate.
L Button: Brake/Reverse.
A Button: Upshift (manual only).
B Button: Downshift (manual only).
X Button: Toggle Race (leaderboard and laps) and car (damage and tire)
information.
Y Button: Toggle rear view mirror ON/OFF.
Z Button: Switch Views.
START: Pause.
You can change the controls by going to the toolbox located in your garage
(between races).
\\end Section 2: Controls
-----------------------
Section 3 : GMOVR : Game Overview
-----------------------
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona is a game that allows four different types of cars:
the dirt track stock cars in the Weekly Racing Series, the asphalt track
Modifieds of the Featherlite series, the Craftsman Truck series, and the
Winston (what's now Nextel) Cup series. You can race a championship and just
take the car (not the name, only the car) of your favorite driver, or a
single race. There're also scenarios to race. But the thing that stands out
is the Career mode. While much like the championship, Career mode starts you
in the dirt and moves you up to the Cup, as your skills (and budget)
improve. Each race gets you a certain amount of winnings, plus those from
your secondary sponsors, and each season gets you payment from your primary
sponsor and letters asking to have the hood of your car. D2D allows you to
paint your cars in the Dirt and Featherlite series, to upgrade all of your
cars, and to just live the life of a real, live, (imaginary) NASCAR racer!
\\end Section 3: Game Overview
-----------------------
Section 4 : NMBR1 : #1 Rule in D2D
-----------------------
The number one rule in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona: As much as you may hate it,
PRACTICE IS YOUR FRIEND. Practice is where you find out if you've got no
chance of winning, where you can learn the track (and this is important with
EVERY SINGLE CHANGE YOU MAKE WITH YOU CAR), where you can tweak your car,
and, if you so wish, where you can ram other people and pretend it's a
demolition derby (works best in the Weekly Racing Series).
By every single change you make with your car, I mean both the slightest
tweaks and the biggest aero or shock upgrades, and everything in between
(and yes, aero and shocks ARE important upgrades).
\\end Section 4: #1 Rule in D2D
-----------------------
Section 5 : GRGOV : Garage Overview
-----------------------
QF Key: GRG + Section letter (Weight would be GRG+A)
Section 5.a: Weight
Section 5.b: Shocks
Section 5.c: Springs
Section 5.d: Tires
Section 5.e: Camber
Section 5.f: Gears
Section 5.g: Misc.
-------
5.a : GRGA : Weight
-------
Weight is one of the fine-tuning aspects in the garage; it makes a
difference, but on short races or at slow speeds, it makes little
difference. It's broken into three catergories: Front Weight, Left Weight,
and Wedge. When adjusting front weight, keep this in mind: the more weight
in the front, the more the front of the car will want to hit the outside
wall. Add and subtract weight accordingly. As for left weight, the more
weight on the left side, the more the car will pull to the left. And for
wedge adjustments- adding wedge will tighten the car, meaning the nose will
pull toward the wall. Subtracting does the opposite.
-------
5.b : GRGB : Shocks
-------
Shocks are another slight tuner, though not as slight as Tires (and Tires
have the same affect). Each tire gets a Bump and Rebound number. The higher
the number, the stiffer the shocks. If your car pulls to the outside
(tight), soften the right front shock. If it tries to swing (loose, the rear
end pulls toward the wall), soften the right rear shock. Generally, ovals
are a 1:3 ratio between bump and rebound. Road courses are more often 1:1.
-------
5.c : GRGC : Springs
-------
Stiffening a spring loosens the corner you've stiffened. So if your car is
tight, try each of the front corners- one at a time. Generally it will be
the right front that is pulling, but it could be the left front- basically,
experiment. Sometimes you'll WANT to loosen the rear springs. These have
much the same affect as shocks.
-------
5.d : GRGD : Tires
-------
Lowering tire pressure is the same affect as softening a spring, on a lesser
scale. Lowering tire pressure gives you more grip, and slows you down a
slight bit. If you're loose, however, lowering the tire that is loose will
help to tighten it up a bit.
If you run on tires for a while, you can find out how your car is handling.
Run for about 10 laps, then come to the pits. At the bottom will be a tire
display, displaying O (outside), I (inside), and M (middle) tire
temperatures. If a tire's O temp is hotter than its I temp, the tire needs
some more pressure. If the I temp is higher than the O temp, it's over
inflated. If the outside is higher than both the M and I temps, you need to
take off a little bit of positive camber.
-------
5.e : GRGE : Camber
-------
Positive camber is when the top of the wheel is farther away from the
chassis than the bottom, and negative is vice-versa. On ovals, the left side
has positive camber and the right side has negative, thus increasing the
surface area (and thus grip) of the tire pressing on the pavement in the
turns. It is a good idea to keep the outside tires touching the pavement,
meaning a negative camber on the outside (and on road courses, on both
sides, to a degree). This is because of inertia- when a car starts a turn,
all of the weight (that can) moves to the outside. Thus, leaving these tires
on the ground gets much better grip.
-------
5.f : Forwarded : Gears
-------
Gears are covered in-depth below.
-------
5.g : GRGG : Misc.
-------
Sway bars: the thickness of these determines how stiff the chassis is. The
stiffness affects how much a car slides in a corner.
Brake Bias: the front brakes should have a slight bias (over 50%, around
55%) because they do most of the stopping. Too much in the front will stop
the rear brakes from doing enough, but too much in the back can lock the
wheels up.
Spoiler Angle: Raising this creates downforce, tightening the rear. However,
this will also slow down the care some, so you may need to change some
gearing afterwards.
Grille Tape: The higher the percentage, the faster your car goes- to an
extent- because it's more aerodynamic. However, too much and your car will
overheat, causing a blown engine. Be careful with this one.
Wheel Lock: Important to edit on road courses and small tracks- the bigger
the number, the farther your wheels can turn, allowing for much better
handling.
Trim: The shocks and springs on the right side of the car are generally
stiffer, causing the car to try to pull slightly to the left. Using this,
you can calibrate your controller to be slightly off center to the right, to
counter the tendency. (I've never noticed the pull, so I've never used this-
play around, maybe it'll work better).
\\end Section 5: Garage Overview
-----------------------
Section 6 : TWKTP : Tweakin' Tips
-----------------------
Tweaking is the best way to get your car to Victory Lane. Of course, car
upgrades are the EASIEST, but tweaking gives you that sense of self-
accomplishment... and works best when you don't have the money for upgrades.
The first rule of tweaking is to change one thing at a time. If you change a
gear ratio, tire pressure, and the amount of grille tape on your car, you're
not going to know what exactly helped (or hurt) you. So change one thing,
and run a couple practice laps, then repeat.
The second rule of tweaking is to write down all of the things you edited
before you make a change, and write down your lap time and Avg. Speed, with
it. This way, if you HAVE to tweak more than one thing at a time, it's
reversible. Trust me, the real teams do it, you should to (of course, the
real teams don't have a game to save their settings for each track, either,
but ignore that comment).
The most important tweakable aspects of your car are the gear ratios. You
can modify these (and all other tweakable car parts) by exiting practice and
going to the bottom bar, where it says garage (though it leads you to a
laptop... oh well). The gear ratios can make your car accelerate faster or
get a higher top speed, and in some cases, both.
(GRGF) To put it simply, when you go to the Gears section of the laptop, you
see some odd numbers, right? It's really pretty simple if you even kind of
know what you're doing. The number you see is the number of times the engine
has to rotate (not literally) in order to completely turn the rear axel
once. Hence, it's (Gear Ratio Number):1. Now, if you want to accelerate
faster in a certain gear, you go to that gear (and they're labeled, so it's
not too hard) and adjust the number up. Yes, up- it takes more turning of
the engine, but it is much easier on the engine, so it makes it go faster.
In all gears except fourth and 'final', moving the number higher means a
lower top speed for that gear, but you'll get out of it faster. Keep in
mind, however, that your car accelerates much better in the lower gears, so
it's often good to LOWER these numbers, increasing the time you spend in
these gears. If you ever notice that the pack moves ahead of you before you
get up to speed, but then you catch them afterwards, first and second gears
should be inspected. Third gear does a whole lot of nothing, but it is a
*little* better at accelerating than fourth gear, so don't eliminate it
completely; just shorten it. Fourth gear, however, is what you'll spend the
most time playing with. If you get to fourth gear and realize you aren't
redlining your car (redlining means getting to the point where you WOULD
shift up- the little light goes on when you're at the redline), you should
try adjusting it upwards, especially if you aren't even close to redlining.
Adjusting fourth gear to be shorter in this situation will allow you to
speed up faster, thus allowing you to reach a higher speed (though this
speed will be closer to the redline RPM-wise). Note, however, that if you
adjust it to accelerate too much faster, you seriously risk blowing your
engine, and that's not good. Generally, if you aren't on a superspeedway
(superspeedways are different in that you barely slow down on the turns),
you want to reach redline just before the turn, though if you reach it about
three-quarters down the straight, that's fine too- you'll even get a little
extra speed. Superspeedways are different in that you always want to be
close to redlining, but not quite- drafting is important and makes a big
difference on these tracks, and if you're redlining on the straights without
drafting help, you'll probably blow your engine when drafting. Feel free to
redline on the straights for qualifying, but bring the fourth gear ratio
down some when you're in Happy Hour. Last but not least is the Final gear
ratio. You'll notice it jumps in odd increments (amounts). This works the
same as Fourth gear, and all I can tell you with this is to either not play
with it, or adjust it one notch, then test, then another notch, then test,
and so on and so forth. Playing with it without knowing what you're doing
can have SERIOUS side affects.
That's it for this update's Tweakin' Tips. See us next time for specifics on
road courses!
\\end Section 6: Tweakin' Tips
-----------------------
Section 7 : JASNT : Just a Side Note
-----------------------
Wouldn't it be nice if in every game, cheat codes were just what effect you
wanted without the vowels? Like, to get ten million dollars, you write:
"GTTNMLLNDLLRS" and you did? That's the way most of these Quick Find numbers
work!
\\end Section 6: Just a Side Note
-----------------------
Sections 8-??? : ????? : In the Works
-----------------------
\\end Sections 8-???: In the Works
-----------------------
The End For Now
-----------------------
\\end FAQ